


One of Life’s Great Mysteries

by hartxstarr



Series: Fracas [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Gen, Nonbinary Character(s), by post-apocalypse i mean post-post-apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 08:31:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12272721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hartxstarr/pseuds/hartxstarr
Summary: There's a difference between a life safe within city walls and the life blocked outside of them.Namely: the never ending forests.





	One of Life’s Great Mysteries

**Author's Note:**

> consider this an introduction of sorts

Blood Gulch is a very small town tucked into a quiet mountain range; the once tame forest around it having been left for years to grow and expand until it became apart of the town itself, down to its very core. Or, rather, perhaps the town was built within the overgrown pine and fir - a relative new addition to the countless years the forest had to flourish in all its green freedom and glory. 

No one knew for certain what came first - the quiet of a small town life, or the evacuation and eradication brought on by the war; the moments so strung tight together that not even Sarge could pick out the clues from the remains and say for sure whether or not Blood Gulch was left abandoned for a life chased elsewhere, or after a life long lived. The town was the furthest thing from otherwise certain civilization, so there was a good chance that it rose with the rise of peace; physical borders and walls thrown up, allowing people to settle down tranquilly and finally build a stable community outside of their shucked up huts and misshapen shacks.

With a name like _Blood Gulch,_  however, it left the minds wondering if the nearby river held more victories in the eyes of some over a surplus of water in others.

Regardless, Delano and Michael took their discoveries in stride. There were countless little trinkets and novelties scattered throughout town that held stories and secrets that the two found fit to make up themselves.

(“Look! This vanity probably held lots of jewelry, I mean look at how much _space_ it has!” “This backyard is huge! There had to have been a _lot_ of cookouts held here.”)

It was quite the optimistic contrast to Dexter and Leonard's rather honest observations made during the quieter, darker stretches of night. Mumbled, with somber undertones that spoke louder than what was said. 

("There's a crib in a room three houses down." "The one next to it - pictures are still hung up on the walls. A family; parents, two kids, a dog. They looked happy.")

Pine cones and fallen, faded needles gathered at the bottom of potholes littering the entire stretch of the main road cutting straight through Blood Gulch. Discarded timber and logs lay thankfully near the edges of the street and, unsurprisingly, a signpost must have been taken out as collateral damage at one point, seeing as no one could find the name of that specific road - Delano had taken to calling it Blood Gulch Avenue and the name somehow stuck. 

One would think that having both the town and the avenue named the same thing would cause confusions but, to the handful of residents, they were one in the same.

Another clue to the Uncertainty: the found maps printed, and in some cases, drawn, with dates spanning many different years that they all had gathered - none of them ever mention Blood Gulch, which some of the residents can easily point to. Blank, uninhabited plot of land labled as apart of the forest and nothing more. There were no streets that led there, and there were no way of telling where the avenue begins and ends. Long lost underneath branches and grass, dirt and rock.

Sarge and Lopez tried looking, years ago. They started on the beaten and worn cement and walked, climbing over rubble and wood. The street was long gone underneath the overgrown forest; it couldn’t be found outside the towns metaphorical borders.

Ironically enough, the few who live in Blood Gulch all settled down on that specific street, down the opposite ends on each side of town. Subsequently, the citizens at the ends of the avenue formed their own little groups: the Reds and the Blues.

The title of First Red goes to the second resident, Sarge. They were the one to introduce - or, more accurately, _create spontaneously_  - the concept of Red side, Blue side. Lavernius was the third to wander into Blood Gulch and claimed the entire south side as his own. The appointed First Blue. The second Red would be Lopez. They were the first to settle into Blood Gulch but tragically lost their rightful title by being a mere innocent bystander to Sarge’s outlandish idea that they made up on the spot the second Michael stumbled into town, the second Blue and fourth ever resident. Richard and Dexter traveled in together, and there is an ever long squabble over their exact titles. Delano was accepted easily enough as the seventh citizen and fifth Red though.

In the same way Sarge declared themself Red Leader, Leonard proclaimed themself Blue Leader when they became eighth.

Lavernius claiming the south side of Blood Gulch for himself expanded to Blue Team territory eventually, which lead to the north side belonging to the Reds. The official border, however, had been up for eternal debate until Richard came along and actually measured the distance of the entire stretch of the avenue, from observable start to recognizable end - and there had been an argument in between about which side was the beginning of Blood Gulch and which side was the end. The line had even extended to the river and cut across the entirety of the town itself when divided equally.

The Reds took base inside of the lone motel in town while the Blues settled in the small living quarters above an old antique shop; the dented pieces of metal and fallen store shelves holding old relics and knickknacks that an older generation might have found interesting, entertaining, and useful - that a closer generation hoped to sell for profit that meant nothing now, sitting rather abandoned. Veteran bills and change still sat in the old cash register on the counter tucked into the far corner of the shop, left mainly untouched by Lavernius upon his settlement.

Money no longer has value once it travels into the land of the trees. The Blue had emptied his pockets of any remaining change into the register soon after he had found the keys under the counter - then promptly hid them. Of course, that didn't stop his fellow teammates in the least.

As small as Blood Gulch is, things are never quiet; the forest alive with the general refusal of amicable camaraderie. Regardless, there was always an adventure to be found in the otherwise uneventful section of timberland. Unlabeled and forgotten, the abandoned town sat still, world slowly overgrown around it with fir and pine, and Reds and Blues who often ask each other:

"Do you ever wonder why we're here?"


End file.
